More doctors are saying their supply of personal protective equipment (PPE) to treat COVID-19 patients will last for 10 days or more compared to three weeks ago, according to a new survey of physicians in Canada.

In a poll of its members taken on April 20-21, respondents told the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) that their supply of facial protection was more likely to last them than it had when the organization took a similar survey on March 30-31.

Twenty per cent of physicians said their supply of eye/faceshields would last longer than 10 days, compared to 8 per cent in the previous poll, while there was also a slight decrease in doctors up against an even greater shortage – 21 per cent of physicians said they would run out of the same equipment in two days, versus 23 per cent who reported the same fear three weeks earlier.

Similarly, slightly fewer doctors – 19 per cent compared to 21 per cent – than three weeks ago said they would run out of protective glasses in less than two days, while more – 25 per cent versus 12 per cent – said they had enough to last more than 10 days.

Doctors were still overwhelmingly concerned about their own supply of PPE.

“More than 88 per cent of all physicians surveyed indicated that a greater availability of PPE would help to reduce their level of anxiety around the pandemic.”

The CMA represents the more than 70,000 physicians in Canada.

The survey it conducted between March 30-31 was its first on PPE during the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost 5,000 doctors responded to the poll. A spokesperson for CMA wouldn’t share how many doctors responded to the latest poll, saying that the input is still being converted into a presentable format, which will be released by early next week.

“The preliminary results point to some very modest improvements in the state of supply,” Buchman wrote.

Since the onslaught of the health crisis in Canada, organizations speaking on behalf of health care professionals have been adamant about the need for more PPE.

Doctors, nurses and other frontline health workers have held donation drives, private companies and individuals have released their own stockpiles and governments at the provincial and federal levels have scrambled to buy-up what’s available as demand has soared during the global pandemic.

The federal government, which is now working in collaboration with the provinces to purchase and distribute PPE, announced just over three weeks ago that it would use $2 billion to buy medical equipment that’s needed during the epidemic. It’s also since reached agreements with companies that make things like masks, gloves and gowns, and some that usually don’t, to contribute to sustaining the national stockpile while Canada battles COVID-19.